Hairline protector



June 2, 1953 F. MULLEN HAIRLINE PROTECTOR Filed Jan. 16,, 1951 .INVENTOR fiofience Mullen BY M HM 7 ATTORNEYS Patented June 2, 1953 U 1 TE D STATES PATFEN T OEF FTC-E HAIRLIN-E PROTECTOR Florence Mullen, Mount Wernon, N. Y.

Application January 16, 1951,Serla1"N0'. 206,180

2"Claims. 1

"This invention involves protecting devices which may be secured in place -on the head duning the tinting, dyeing or other treatment of the hair, by the application of aliquidthereto. Many such coloring liquids act to color the skin if they come in contact with it and the main-obiectof the invention is to provide a device which may be readily applied to "the head and closely follow the hair line regardless .of the size and shape of the head and variations in the location of the hair line and thereby :prevent the treating liquid from coming in contact with the skin in areas other than those bearing the hair to be treated. Various devices have been proposed for this general purpose but each such device with which I am familiar has certain objectionable features or disadvantages.

Among the objects of my invention are to protect the ears and areas closely adjacent thereto and the upper part of the foreheadwhile permitting the treatment of all of the hair includin that which may be growing in front of the upper portion of the .ears; to absorb rather than drain 01f the excess treating liquid, which otherwise might flow onto those portions of the skin where little or no hair is growing; and to provide a device which may be readily bent to follow the hair line and which will retain its shape during use.

Many liquids which are commonly employed in tinting 0r dyeing hair act similarly to tint or dye the skin and in many cases it is very difiicult to remove the coloring material from the areas where it is not desired. By means of the present device, all portions of the skin which do not bear hair to be tinted or colored, are protected from contact with the tinting or coloring material.

In carrying out my invention, I provide an elongated strip of absorbent material which is highly flexible and liquid absorbent and which encloses or surrounds a reinforcing or core element which latter is substantially non-resilient, readily bendable and form retaining while in use. Thus the device may be bent to any desired degree and in any direction so that it may be fitted across the upper part of the forehead and follow the hair line down in front of the ears and then up, over and down behind the ears. Thus, regardless of the various shapes and size of heads and the extent of the areas bearing the hair to be treated, the device may be bent to the proper shape to follow the hair line, protect the hairless areas, expose all of the hair and prevent flow of the treating liquid away from hair bearing areas.

The portion of the core element which is to be across the forehead may be a flat band of substantially non-elastic textile and the portion which holds the band in place and which re quires bending to adapt it to extend down to some distance in front of the ears and then up, over and down behind the ears, "is flexible, nonresilient and form retaining. It "may be of anhealed wire :or a non-resilient and easily bent bar or rod of plastic material. These band "re tainer elements preferably have a surface contour which prevents the absorbent material from slipping endwise thereon, although the entire core element may be formed of the material of this character.

The entire core element is encased in a soft, flexible, highly IDOl'OllS and liquid absorbing material. This may be oi? a synthetic sponge iike material which may be made in sheets, cut into strips and folded around the core element to en'- tirely encase it, and completed by sewing the edges and ends of the strips together. This porous casing'maybe larger in cross-section along the portion engaging the forehead where some 'of the hair treating liquid may drain down, than it is along the portions which go around the ears.

Due to the non-resilient and flexible character of the core element as well as the absorbent element, the entire device may be rolled up or folded to go into a comparatively small container for shipment or storage.

When it is desired to apply the device, the center portion is placed across the forehead at the lower edge of the hair line and the end portions are bent to follow the hair line and the terminal portions bent to fit snugly against and behind the ears. One form of the invention may be that shown in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device after being bent to the approximate shape desired for use.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the device in place; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one form of core element which may be employed.

In the form illustrated, the core element includes a band I0 which may be of textile material, such as tape and of a length approximating the width of the forehead and providing the intermediate section of the core element. To the ends of this band are secured a pair of rod-like members II which are non-resilient but readily bendable and comprise the terminal sections 01 the core element. In order to give the desired roughened surface to these members and to better adapt them for the attachment of the band, they may each be formed of a single wire having a loop l2 at one end to which the band It! is attached. From each side of this loop the two end portions are twisted around each other, as illustrated, so as to form a surface along which the liquid absorbing member cannot readily slide. The absorbent material may be made from any desired number of pieces of porous or spongelike material, cut to the proper shape and folded around both the band and the rod-like members of the core element, and pieces may be secured closes the band In and which is to extend across the forehead, is made very much larger in di- 4 of the device becoming displaced during the treatment of the hair.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A self-retaining device for protecting the forehead and ears of the wearer while dyeing, tinting or otherwise treating the hair, said device including an elongated porous body of liquid absorbing material and a core element enclosed therein, said core element including an intermediate flexible band section located centrally within said porous body and adapted to extend across the forehead below the hair line and two ameter or cross-section than the portions which enclose the members I l and which are bent to fit around the ears.

Due to the flexibility of all of the constituent elements, the device may be folded up into very compact form for shipment or storage. When it is to be used, the band portion is placed across the forehead and bent to closely follow the hair line. Each end portion is bent so as to follow the hair line and to form a loop M in front of the ears, varying with the extent to which hair grows there, and reverse terminal hook sections I5 which may snugly engage over and behind the ears. Thus the device may be fitted to faces of various sizes and the absorbent material caused to lie snugly against the skin and close to the hair line, regardless of variations in the contour of such areas. By means of the device all por tions of the hair on the head may be tinted, bleached or otherwise treated and without the liability of any of the treating liquid coming in contact with any portion of the face or with any portion of the skin on which substantially no hair is growing. The end portions are suihciently stiff so that when once bent to the desired shape they will hold that shape and there will be no danger terminal sections of readily bendable nonresilient material connected at one of their ends a to the adjacent end of said band section, whereby the end portions of said porous body adjacent the central portion maybe bent to form a depending loop in front of one ear and a reverse loop extending over and behind said ear, thereby to retain said porous body in position on the wearer.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, in which the terminal sections of the core element have surface irregularities for preventing said porous body from slipping therealong.

FLORENCE MULLEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,741,327 Merlino Dec. 31, 1929 1,750,937 Morgan Mar. 18, 1930 2,016,210 Mann Oct. 1, 1935 2,032,898 Wilson Mar. 3, 1936 2,324,735 Spanel July 20, 1943 2,337,617 Miller Dec. 28, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 182,125 Germany Mar. 9, 1907 444,683 Germany May 24, 1927 

